Boingo gravitates toward “free” Wi-Fi with Cloud Nine purchase

Boingo gravitates toward “free” Wi-Fi with Cloud Nine purchase
Consumers are increasingly expecting free Wi-Fi in public spaces, so one of the world’s biggest hotspot providers is adjusting its business model accordingly. Boingo(s wifi) has acquired Cloud Nine Media, which manages sponsorship deals for Wi-Fi access in more than 6000 airports, hotels bars and restaurants in the U.S. and Canada.

Consumers are increasingly expecting free Wi-Fi in public spaces, so one of the world’s biggest hotspot providers is adjusting its business model accordingly. Boingo(s wifi) has acquired Cloud Nine Media, which manages sponsorship deals for Wi-Fi access in more than 6000 airports, hotels bars and restaurants in the U.S. and Canada.

You may have already seen some of Cloud Nine’s works in a few major airports. When logging into a hotspot, instead of getting the usual registration and payment screen, a terms-of-use page pops up offering to show you a video or ads in exchange for 30 minutes or more of free Wi-Fi access. AT&T(s t) is launching a similar service at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport this September.

Boingo had been testing the sponsored Wi-Fi model working with Google Offers(s goog) to provide ad-supported Wi-Fi in New York City subways and with American Express(s axp) to do the same at…